St. Mary Magdalene as a Myrrhbearer (Det.; ORX 01)

In Eastern Orthodoxy, St. Mary Magdalene was never conflated with St. Mary of Bethany, sister of SS. Martha and Lazarus, nor with the "sinful woman" who anoints Jesus in Luke 7:36–50. Therefore, she was not deemed nor demeaned as a reformed prostitute. Instead, she was celebrated as a virgin, as “Equal to the Apostles (ἰσαπόστολος)”, and as a Myrrhbearer (Μυροφόρος), that is, one of the women who prepared Jesus’s body for burial after the Crucifixion. It is in that latter guise that she is portrayed here. + Here, St. Mary Magdalene is modestly clad in an emerald green robe and pink mantle shaded in red. Her hair is completely covered by a golden yellow veil shaded in orange. She holds a vial or flask of myrrh, a rare and precious substance use in Hebrew rituals and burials. Her haloed figure is isolated against an undifferentiated gold background. + Among St. Mary Magdalene’s patronages are pharmacists and perfumers. + Feast: July 22 + Image Credit (ORX 01): Detail of an antique image of St. Mary Magdalene as a Myrrhbearer in chromolithography from a 1902 Russian Orthodox devotional print (No. 62), from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.